OFV Becoming a Volunteer

Organisations who volunteer corporately

Aviva (external link) - one of the world's largest insurance groups - has a comprehensive coporate social responsibility program (external link). This program features the Guiding Star Charities Committee (external link) initiative, where each full-time member of Avida staff is provided with the opportunity to volunteer one day a year to a charitable organisation recognised by the committee.

National Australia Bank (external link) is an international financial services group providing support to community organisations through donations, partnerships, volunteering, community sponsorships and gifts in-kind.

Key programs include:

The National Australia Bank also runs an annual Volunteer Awards (external link) program which recognises best practice in volunteering by community organisations.

Vodafone Australia (external link) - a major mobile telecommunications company - has set up a special foundation to help them and their staff give back to the community in a number of ways, including:

Passion Days - staff can take an additional paid leave day each year to volunteer with their favourite community organisation
Passion in Action - their Foundation has a pool of funds that is available for teams to use to fund volunteer days such as renovating a drop-in-centre or taking a group of disadvantaged children on an excursion
Matched Giving - where staff can have the money that they raise for charity matched
Payroll Giving - staff can donate to their favourite community organisation pre tax through Vodafone's payroll system

Vodafone also runs an annual program called Donate Yourself - Make A World Of Difference (external link) which provides sponsorship to successful applicants to work in a charity organisation of their choice for 12 months.

Westpac (external link) - runs numerous programs in support of their community involvement strategy (external link). Many of their employees are actively involved in their local communities as volunteers (external link), either individually or as part of their team. Westpac supports their efforts with paid leave for volunteering and flexible working arrangements.

Each year the Chief Executive Officer acknowledges and rewards the volunteering efforts of Westpac employees through Community Volunteering Awards. The awards recognise individual and team excellence by providing financial support to their chosen community organisations.

The Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) (external link) is offering their staff up to two days paid leave each calendar year to volunteer in the community. In support of this initiative, they have also developed a Corporate Volunteering Policy — (93 kb PDF), providing guidance to DPC staff about their 'Special Leave With Pay for Community Volunteering' entitlements.

Download DPC's corporate volunteering policy — (93 kb PDF)